Hydrocarbon-oil treatment



April 1, 1931- .1. B. HEID HYDROCARBON lOIL vTREATMENT Filed April 25,1927 JACOB BENJAMIN HEID, OI CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T UNIVERSAL OILPROD- l ,tic'ular' y toa process and apparatus w Patented Apr. 7,v 1931UNITED STATES, PATENT oFFIcE" UCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS,` ACORPORATION OF SOUTH DAKOTA HYDROCABBON-OIL TREATMENT l Application ledApril 25,

The resent improvements relate more parich can" be utilized inconnection with a cracking processoperated under conditions ofconversion .temperature and superatmospheric pressure or with a crudeoil topping process, to respectively lash the non-vaporous residualproducts of reaction due to latent heat vaporization accomplished by a.reduction in pressure, or to vaporize the heated crude oil.

The general purpose of the present invention is to provide a process andapparatus which can be operated very economically and efficiently forcarrying out the object of the invention. l e

In the specific embodiment of the invention, hydrocarbon oil heated to atemperature Where substantial vvaporization will take place isintroduced into the upper ortion of an enlarged vapor separating cham erwherein the unvaporized portion ofthe oil is caused to have a cascadingback and 'forth descent whereb the oil is broken up and vapors evolveThe unvaporized portions of the oil collect in a substantial body in thelower portion of the chamber. As a feature of the invention, the ascentof the released vapors is unrestricted and is accelerated, thus makingit possible to secure a fairly high velocity of vapors ascending in thechamber, enabling said vapors to be discharged before they have had anopportunity to condense intoa liquid due to slow velocities andradiation.

The utility of the invention as well as other objects and advantageswill be more apparent from the following e description z In the drawing,Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view partly in verticalsection of apparatus in which the invention may be carried out.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Referring more in detail to the drawings, hydrocarbon oil heated to atemperature where substantial vaporization takesl place may beintroduced through the line 1, in which may be interposed a throttlevalve 2, discharging through the perforated coil or rose 4. This heatedhydrocarbon oil charged 1927. Serial No. 188,212.

through the line 1 may have been heated in a concurrently operatingtopping process wherein crude oil is subjected to a distillintemperature, for instance, in a heating coil and discharged through thespray 4, or this hydrocarbon .oil may comprise the non-vaorous residualproducts of reactionwithrawn from a concurrently operating crackingprocesscarried out under cracking conditions of temperature andsuperatmospheric pressure. It is well known, of course, that when thesuperatmospheric pressure maintained on a body of heated 011 is reducedor released,I substantial vaporization will take place due to the latentheat contained in said oil. The oil discharging through the spray 4: isdistributed over the top baiiie plate or deck?) from which the heatedoil drops onto plate 5 spaced below the plate 3. The oil in passing fromplate 3 to plate 5 overflows the outer edge of. plate 3. It is to benoted that the outer edge of the plate 3 is spaced away from the wall ofthe shell 6 while the outer edge of the plate 5 is disposed immediatelyadjacent and preferably in contact with said wall. The purpose of thiswill be explained. It is also to be noted that each deck is providedwith an internal aperture which may take the form of a circle ifdesired.

The diameter or width of the aperture in the plate 3 is purposelysmaller than the diameter or width of the aperture in the plate 5. Thereare a number of sets of alternate decks 3 and 5 spaced from each otherthroughout the height of the shell 6. Each of the plates 8 is preferablyprovided with a tubular extension 7, the purpose of which willhereinafter be more particularly brought out.

It will be apparent that the oil passes over the outer edge of plate 3to the plate 5 and over the inner edge of plate 5 to the plate 3therebelow, which action is repeated throughout the height of the shell.Due to the continual changing of the surface area of the hot oil passingfrom plate to plate in a back and forth cascade flow, vapors are evolvedfrom the oil, passing out into the vapor space located in the center ofthe tower and designated S.

As a feature of the invention, it isto be noted that the diameter of thetubular extensions 7 in the lowermost plates 3 is greatly smaller thanthe corresponding width or diameter of the tubular extensions 7 in theplates 3 in the uppermost portion of the tower 6. Thus, each size ofpipe provided vas part of the vapor line 8 acts as an injector to alarger vapor line above, pulling the evolved vapors out of eachcompartment so that the vapors do not come in contact with the liquidoil passing down through the tower. Thus, it is possible to secure afairly high velocity of the vapors as they pass up through the towerenabling the vapors to pass out before they have had an opportunity tocondense into a liquid due to slow velocities and radiation. Thisisparticularly advantageous, since it makes it possible to secure agreater vaporization at a lower temperature on the oil entering theshell 6, since there is a continual changing ot the area of the heatedoil passingr down or descending in the tower, which liberates thevapors, and, further, because such evolved vapors have a separate andquick passage out of the shell 6 before they have an opportunity tocondense. The vapors evolved in the successive stages in the tower 6pass through the spaces between the upper edge ot one tubular extensionand the lower edge of the tubular extension thereabove, as indicated bythe arrows. The vapors liberated in the tower pass out through vaporoutlet pipe 9 in which may he interposed a valve 10, passing to asuitable condenser, fractionating tower or the like. The unvaporizedhydrocarbons dropping ott the lower plate 3 may drop onto plate 11,which may be attached to the side wall of the tower and so located as toallow the oil to pass to the surface of the residual oil settling in abody in thc bottom of the tower. To prevent unnecessary mixing oragitation of the oil col.- lecting in the body 12, the plate 11 istapered and its lower edge may be disposed below the liquid level of thebody 12 so as to allow the unvaporized oil to pass into the body 12 atan angle.

The settled free carbon may be drawn out of the tower through line 13controlled by valve 14 while residual oil practically free from carbonmay be drawn off at a point adjacent the surface of the oil body 12through line 15 in which may be interposed a valve 16.

lt is to be noted that by this arrangement all of the evolved vaporshave an unrestricted iow out of the tower through the vapor line 8 whichis made up by the tubular extensions 7, and that these vapors, due totheir increase in velocity, create a suction at the terminus of thetubular extensions of each plate drawing out additional vapors evolvedbetween the plates, thus preventing them from passing through the liquidoil falling down over the edges of the plates. It is to be understoodthat the sketch is diagrammatic and that the number of plates and sizeof tower can be made to suit the condition under which the tower can bemost efficiently operated.

The lower section of the tower may be provided with a cone shapedbottom, as illustrated, where the unvaporized oil is allowed to settle.If any tree carbon is present it will gradually settle to the bottom andmay be withdrawn through the line 13. Provision may be made forexternally or internally heating the tower, as will be obvious to thoseskilled in this art.`

I claim as my invention:

1. A method which comprises introducing heated hydrocarbon oil into theportion of an enlarged chamber where vapor separation takes place,causing the unvaporized portion of the oil to have a back and forthcascading descent therein whereb the oil is broken up and'vapors evolve,co1 ecting unvaporized portions of the oil in a substantial body in thelower portion of the chamber, and accelerating the ascent of thereleased vapors by causing same to ascend through passages ofsuccessively increased cross-sectional area.

2. A method which comprises introducing hydrocarbon oil heated to atemperature at which substantial portions will vaporize into the upperportion of a vapor separating chamber, causing the unvaporized portionsof said oil to have a successivel obstructed descent therein whereby theoil is broken up and Vvapors evolve, collecting unvaporized portions ofthe oil in a substantial body in the lower portion of the chamber,accelerating the ascent of the released vapors, by causing same toascend through passages of successively increased cross-sectional areaand withdrawing the heavier non-vaporous hydrocarbons from a pointadjacent the bottom of the residual body while withdrawing lighternon-vaporized hydrocarbons from a point above the latter point.

3. A still comprising a shell having inlet and outlet tor vapors andliquid, spaced decks disposed within said shell, the outer edge ofalternate decks being disposed substantially flush with the interiorwall of the shell while the outer edges of decks interposed therebetweenare spaced away from the shell wall, upwardly projecting tubularextensions connected to the inner edges of certain decks, thecross-sectional area of the tubular extensions gradually increasing in asuccessively upward direction.

4. A vaporizer comprising a shell havin vapor and liquid inlets andoutlets, space imperforate decks disposed substantially flush with theinterior wall of the shell, each of said decks having an enlargedopening substantially at its center, a second set of impcrforate decksdisposed alternately with respect to the first mentioned decks, theouter periphery of the second set of decks being spaced from the shellwall, openin increasing in diameter in tion, and tubular wardly from thelast mentione mentioned decks, said tu substantially central of saidsecond set o decks and an upward direcextenfsions pro'ecting upo eninthrough the enlarged ogening of t e first ular extensions increasing incross sectional area. in an upward

